Even before I had even started one single word (or image) of Secret Avengers I opened up a new document so I could note down the stuff that came to me as I read it [1] and wrote down: "Good old Warren Ellis." At this point - that's how confident I am that having his name of the front cover of a comic means that - at the very least - it's a book that will be worth the time it takes to read: and - hell - if he's on form: then the sky is much less than the limit.

Of course: seeing how this is a mainstream marvel book (and not even a proper stand-alone one: I mean: at the start I was confused by the fact that it started at issue 16 and wondered if I was missing important story-stuff by starting at the middle [2]: but after deciding: "what the hey" I jumped in and realised that none of this was even an issue: and that the Vol 3 thing is a bit of a misnomer: seeing how it reads as a collection of short stories more than anything else: but we'll get to that in a bit) it's Ellis working for a (what I assume is a fat) paycheck more than trying to set the world on fire: but there's enough here to keep your brain (well - my brain at least) ticking over and twisted in knots: plus the fact that the artwork is (at points) pretty cool (I'd classify it as B-list [3] - which is several letters above the type of thing you normally get in your typical mainstream superhero comics so - you know: that's something at least): or - to put it another way: ok - yeah: it's basically just bubblegum - but it's well made bubblegum: with a lot of interesting flavours.

What that means: it's got a robust vocabulary (which means that you get lots of lovely words like "stellify" and "indubitably." [4]), Ellis' typical gonzo dialogue (with "Where is your Bluddy Steve Jobs Tricknology now, rich yankee pigs with your tight pants?" on one side and "People always forget that a time machine is also a space machine." on the other) with a healthy smattering of ideas (including: how to use city as a bomb) and a deft touch with superhero characterization (with basically just means everyone gets to say one cool line at some point): like it says in the book: "it's clever and insane at the same time."

What's even better is that (taking a cue from Planetary): each issue is it's own self-contained little story: which means that it's really easy to dip in-and-out (because - you know: reading a whole comic can be such a major chore). In fact - forget Planetary: a much better example would be the short-lived Global Frequency: I mean - all you need to do is swap Miranda Zero for Steve Rogers and it's practically the same - only with the science-fictional volume turned all the way up (hey: I mean - it's superheroes so that's expected - right?): compact little action-adventure tales poking holes in the fabric of the world: short stories that are all quips and teeth.

I mean: for me - if you wanted to know what would make it better then I'd suggest that it cut down on the fighting (and: man - there is a lot of fighting) and ramped up the M C Escher style craziness: but that's just niggles. But like I said at the start: it's Warren Ellis - so (at this point) you should know exactly what it is you're going to get. And - hell: I'm always game for whatever good time he has to show me: even if the next day I can barley recall what it was that we got up to: but that's bubblegum for you.

[1] Here's my tip for anyone out there thinking of reviewing stuff - it helps a lot if you write down your thoughts are you read it / watch it: trying to remember the things you were thinking of afterwards isn't really a viable option.

[2] And nosing around I discovered that there are two volumes of Secret Avengers that came before this (courtesy of Ed Brubaker): plus a tie-in to the Fear Itself blah: not to mention the Rick Remender series that comes directly after. However: I don't think I'm gonna bother to read either of them (let alone write them up on the blog - so (for the time being) this is as much Secret Avengers insight you're going to get from me: so enjoy it while it lasts.

[3] Notable artists (for me anyway) include: Kev Walker (a 2000AD graduate done good), Michael Lark (best known for his work on Gotham Central: and his lean, mean drawing style), Alex Maleev (the guy who did all the heavy lifting on Bendis' Daredevil run: who's even better at that realism feeling: and messing around with different drawing old-fashioned styles) and Stuart Immonen (who worked on the tail-end Ultimate Spider-man: and whose artwork looks like it would bounce if you threw it up against a wall).

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About

Hello. And welcome to the blog of the Islington Comic Forum.

A bunch of interlinked posts about the comics available from Islington libraries (of which it turns out there are a lot) this is an attempt to make some sort of Comics Encyclopedia (with added rambling): something to help you find your way around.

Each bite-sized entry (well - they're mostly bite-sized but sometimes I do get a little bit carried away) contains both my ill-informed attempts to give you some idea of what the book is about (and be warned: I do tend to babble): kinda like a primer - written not to simply regurgitate the story (because: blah) but instead try to give you some idea of the flavour of the thing so you can decide for yourself whether you want to give it a go - and also (which some of you may like better): a selection of related links which will take you to reviews, articles and interviews written by people who - frankly - put more time into this sort of thing than me.

The Islington Comic Forum itself is a monthly meeting book group-kinda thing for people interested in comic books (from novices to fanatics). If you'd like to meet new people / sit around and talk about comics / take home some of the books mentioned on this site - then please free feel to drop in (details at the top of the page).

Disclaimers: Please keep in mind that due to the 200 character limit some titles are incompletely tagged: in such cases Genre wins over Artists (sorry). Also: I don't spend much (or any) time proof-reading so this thing is unfortunately riddled with typos and spelling mistakes (sorry). This is all a work-in-progress and I do tend to go back lots and edit and rewrite stuff so if something seems underwritten now - you should know that at some point I will go back and try and fill it out a little bit more. And yeah - all the brackets and footnotes and stuff: I hope they're not too annoying - speaking honestly: using them is the best way I could find to write what it was I want to say. So yeah.

And: (most importantly) thejudgements contained within are just a point of view (like the Dude says: "That's just like, your opinion, man") - so please free feel to disagree if it makes you feel better.

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